


Our Place As The Misbegotten || DISCONTINUED

by cosmic__boi



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Gay, High School AU, High School Teachers, Jeremiah has social anxiety, Light Angst, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Soft Jeremiah Valeska, falcone is still in charge, nonbinary zsasz, oswald is an english teacher, oswald still has a limp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23990974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic__boi/pseuds/cosmic__boi
Summary: A high school teachers au, all the adults in Gotham are roughly the same age, but are now teachers at Gotham High, where some of the familiar youngsters attend as students. Hi-jinks and shenanigans ensue as per normal.
Relationships: Ecco & Jeremiah Valeska, Ecco (Gotham)/Original Character(s), Jeremiah Valeska/Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon/Barbara Kean/Leslie Thompkins, Jim Gordon/Leslie Thompkins, Jonathan Crane/Jervis Tetch, Lucius Fox & Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox & Edward Nygma, Oswald Cobblepot & Fish Mooney, Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma, Selina Kyle & Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle & Ivy Pepper & Bridgit Pike, Tabitha Galavan/Barbara Kean
Kudos: 35





	1. Introduction

~currently a work in progress, first chapter to be posted very soon~


	2. A new day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this might be posted a *little* later than I was hoping to, but I *will* be trying to post a bit more regularly than *checks notes* every 3 months. Yeah... sorry about that. Anyways, this is going to be mostly exposition, so sorry about that, next chapter I'll get more into it. 
> 
> Beta'd by justabitwayward

It was a brand new fall day, and unusually warm for Gotham. Oswald stood in the parking lot, surveying the dark building in front of him. It was daunting and worn down, with gothic architecture overrun with years of vandalism and modern additions, as with most Gotham buildings. It was early, and Oswald was thankful that between the time he had attended Gotham High and the present, they had pushed the starting time to 8am rather than 7am. It was now 7:15, which was still early- he had wanted to get there on time for his first day of the school year. 

He made his way into the building, coffee and folders in hand. A few students were already there, gathering in groups either in reunion or in the hopes of making new friends for the freshmen. Oswald limped to his classroom, thankful for the elevator. He was glad he only had a few things to carry this morning, having taken the majority of his belongings in previously so as to cause as little hassle as possible. Better than last year, his first year teaching, when he had gotten there at 6:45 in the morning, and had barely limped to his room, carrying all of his things, by 8:01. 

But this year, Oswald had learned better. The doors dinged and slid open, and he hobbled across the hall. Setting his things on his desk at the front of his room, he pulled up his seating chart (by alphabet) and put it up on the screen. Satisfied, Oswald took his coffee and walked to the room right next to his. 

He poked his head in, smiling. “Hello!”

The older woman at the desk looked up and smiled back. “Oswald... good to see you!” She nodded her head and said with her drawl. 

“Fish, how are you?” Oswald said, thankful for the lack of students present so he could use her first name, which was  _ never _ used in front of students. There were wild rumors about her real first name, as none of the students knew. All of the teachers kept it as a secret, partially to keep up the fun with the students and maintain an air of mystery, and partially in fear of what Fish might do to them if that information got out. She had been a teacher for some time, and was close with the principal. Every teacher, admin, worker, and student, both feared and respected her. 

“I’m good, just reading over some of my student’s files,” Her smile had something in it, bitter and edged. “And you?”

“Good as well,” he nodded. Oswald was curious, but didn’t press his friend. It was strange, she had actually taught him back when he had been in highschool, somehow he had come back, and they had become friends. It had been  _ her _ that had actually gotten him to become an English teacher, rather than something worse. He hadn’t been the most fortunate child, growing up in one of the rougher parts of town, and could have possibly gone into a life of crime had it not been for her. 

“I heard there’s a new teacher this year,” Oswald went with instead. “Teaching… what was it, geometry?”

“Yes,” Fish exhaled, deflated. “Miss Falcone- Carmine’s daughter. She’s not exactly… a teacher-favorite, you might say,”

“Ah,” Oswald nodded. “I heard as much. Jim was, er, talking about her in the breakroom,”

“Sounds like Jim, let’s hope none of that will get back to Carmine  _ or _ Miss Falcone.” Fish shook her head. One of the first things she had offered as advice to Oswald was to not let gossip about other teachers be heard by anyone else except those he absolutely trusted- the power hierarchy among the high school teachers here was almost insane, and even if one didn’t lose their job, their life would become a living hell. It had happened to one such teacher, a certain Mr. Maroni whom Oswald had had to deal with back in his school days. 

The two chatted for a bit more before Oswald headed back to his own classroom, where he sat for a bit, sipping on his heavily-sweetened coffee. Normally he preferred ice coffee, but he found that warm coffee woke him up better in the mornings. While reading his syllabus over again, checking for any mistakes, a few students shyly entered his class. 

A very tall and skinny boy with shaggy hair covering his eyes and face, an agitated ginger boy with glasses, and a blonde girl in an over-sized sweater came in, causing Oswald to look up. 

“Hello, welcome! I have a temporary seating chart by alphabet, so if you’d just find your names on the screen-” he gestured. The tallest looked up and sat at a seat close to Oswald’s desk- it clicked that he was Crane, Jonathan Crane, son of Dr. Crane, the biology teacher. The girl and the other boy looked at the seating chart. The boy (a Jeremiah Valeska) mumbled something to the girl, and she smiled playfully. 

“Ah, c’mon, it’ll be fine! He said it’s temporary, don’t worry, we’ll probably get to sit together soon!” He looked up hopefully, then looked back down, nodded and went to the back. The girl (an Erin Nellis) sat in the middle. 

Oswald recognized the nervous red-head as someone Fish had last year- a boy with severe social anxiety and other mental health issues. He was apparently a genius, but he barely spoke to anyone outside of his friend Erin. He was a stark counterpart to his twin, Jerome, a known troublemaker and loudmouth. Oswald was just thankful he didn’t have Jerome in any of his classes. 

The rest of the morning was filled with a similar routine, and class was just Oswald covering his syllabus and explaining his rules. He continued to do so for his other classes until finally lunch break came. Somehow, even as a teacher, lunch was his favorite subject. Oswald grabbed his coffee and lunch and limped to an empty classroom across the hall. He sat down and opened his lunch as other teachers began to file in. Fish, followed by Mr. Nygma (not quite Dr., but he was working on it), Mr. Fries, Ms. Kean, and Mx. Zsasz. 

This group, for some reason, had banded together and gathered to gossip here rather than in the breakroom. The few people they could truly trust without somehow being betrayed and being told on to the admin. They  _ technically _ weren’t doing anything illegal: not only were these the few openly queer teachers, but also the support group. Where counseling and the school district failed (which was almost all the time), these six stepped in quietly and took care of certain students. Each had little equal signs and pride flags in their rooms, with signs saying that they were always available to talk. The school district multiple times had tried to step in and say that it wasn’t their place, but any and all of them would be damned if they didn’t take care of the kids. 

Today’s conversation, however, was filled with gossip about Miss Falcone, the newest teacher. 

“For lack of better words,” Ed was saying after finishing his bit of a sandwich, “She’s a bitch,”

“Sh!” Fish’s eyes widened and flung to the closed door. Ed shrugged and took another bite. 

“She was  _ openly _ flirting with Jim,” Barbara added. “I couldn’t even say hello to him, she just kept him  _ busy _ .”

“And in front of some of the other students, not even bothering to be subtle,” Fries added. He shivered in his over-sized white sweater. He was a large man, and yet his light blue sweater was even more mammoth. 

“Something’s up with her, anyway,” Barbara frowned. “I saw her on my way up here, she was talking to a student, Martine I think his name was,”

“Martine Oliver?” Oswald looked up from his sandwich. “I think I have him in my next class. Isn’t he the mute student?”

“Yep,” Zsasz affirmed. “Had him in my second period, brilliant kid,”

“What would she be doing with a mute student? I thought he was in calculus, not geometry,” Fish mused, her acrylic fingernails absently tapping on the large desk they were using as a lunch table. 

“Well, ol’ Foxy was trying to do a bit of research on her this morning,” Ed began. “Saw the basic stuff, her relation to Carmine, her brother is Dr. Mario Calvi at Gotham General Hospital. She doesn’t appear to have worked elsewhere before, she doesn’t have any social media, friends, anything really. A few school records, but… just kind of… weird.” He finished lamely. None of them could quite put a finger on it, but Sofia Falcone was off somehow. 

  
Oswald had his next few classes after lunch ended. Martine was a reserved student, and it wasn’t like Oswald had a lesson plan for the first day, but he could see something shining in the young pupil’s eyes. A  _ hungry _ ambition, a passion for  _ more _ , learning  _ more _ . Oswald smiled to himself. It would be an interesting year indeed. 


	3. Author's Note- Sorry

So this fic is going to be discontinued, but re-continued back in another fic, soon to be posted. I _do_ have the fic outlined, but the formatting is going to be changed a bit to better fit my style. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I will be posting it very soon, so stay tuned!

Also sorry for not having posted in ages, life kinda happened and I had a bunch of other WIPs that I've been working on, which I hope I'll get to post soon.


End file.
